On March 15, 16 2011 there is a conference on Law and the Brain. A summary of this conference which will be held in New York is as follows:

Advances in neuroscience are providing insight to the inner workings of the human brain and these discoveries are increasingly being used in criminal and civil courts. Learn how these findings are impacting criminality, guilt, deception, mental health, memory, addiction, and other issues. Discover the pitfalls and potential implications of applying neuroscience in the courtroom.

Join us for this interdisciplinary conference which brings neuroscientists and legal scholars together to discuss how new neuroscientific discoveries are affecting law both now and in the future.

There are several distinguished speakers. Additional information can be found here.

I am delighted to inform you about the following events that are being sponsored by St. John's Law School, Center for Labor and Employment Law. Labor scholars and practicing labor and employment lawyers may find this information and conferences particularly useful. Click here for a Save the Date Card Download SJU Save Date Cambridge

1. February 2, 2011- The Intersections of National Security, Public Safety and Health, Immigration, and Labor and Employment Law (Location St. John's Law School 5:30 pm)

This looks like a wonderful conference. A Commissioner of Health, a former New York Director of Homeland Security, former federal prosecutors and a sitting federal judge are all confirmed speakers.

2. March 18, 19, 2011-The Theology of Work and The Dignity of Workers Conference (Location St. John's Law School)

This conference has a wonderful group of confirmed speakers including the President of the NYS Central Labor Council, NYU Professor Sam Estreicher, UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Scholarly papers are being solicited for this conference.

This conference looks to be unbelievable. Some of the confirmed speakers include Ted St. Antoine, former President of the National Academy of Arbitrators and Michigan Law Professor, NYU Professor Sam Estreicher, Texas Professor Jack Getman, Prof. Bill Gould, former NLRB Chairperson as well as a host of other attorneys and speakers. Scholarly papers are being solicited for this conference.

In the last 7 years, I have gone to most of the conferences sponsored by St. John's Law School, including one that was sponsored in London England. They are simply wonderful. David Gregory the conference director is a wonderful speaker, a good friend and an excellent host. If you want to write a paper, you may have the opportunity for it to be published in the law review or in another scholarly journal. Most importantly, in addition to learning a great deal about the law, these conferences are simply fun. I look forward to see you.

On Tuesday Oct. 12, 2010 GW Law School is hosting an important conference on the status of unpaid student interns. The program can be downloaded by clicking Download Regulating Unpaid Internships

The conference will feature several important speakers, including two that I count as friends, David Gregory from St. John's Law School and Samuel Estreicher from NYU School of Law School. Significantly, this is not just an academic conference where legal theory will be presented. Several practing attorneys are speaking and the materials are both recent and practical.

The use and abuse of interns is not a new problem or a new legal issue. However, with the poor economy, more and more students, lawyers and others are working without charge with the hope of landing a job.

This conference should not be missed. I would have posted this earlier, but I just found out about it.

PresentationScholarship for Excellence in Labor and Employment Law The fifth annual academic merit scholarship award offered by the Jackson Lewis law firm in memory of former partner Alan C. Becker, Esq.

Under the leadership of Professor David L. Gregory and Dean Michael A. Simons, the Center is designed to creatively and dynamically prepare law students as superb labor and employment lawyers. The Center, which was founded almost forty years ago as the labor and employment society, will continue to bring distinguished speakers and leaders to campus and expose students to cutting edge legal issues. Major events planned for 2010-2011 include the following:

1. NLRB Chair Wilma Liebman will be the keynote speaker at a conference on the 75th Anniv. of the NLRA. That conference will be held on June 2, 2010 at St. John's Manhattan Campus, 101 Murray Street between 6 and 10 pm.

2. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has been invited to be the keynote speaker at a symposium conference on March 19, 2011 at the main campus of the law school.

3. The Center together with Cambridge University, England will sponsor a conference in England on July 17-23, 2011 entitled "Labor and Employment Dispute Resolution: International and Comparative Perspectives"

For additional information contact Professor David Gregory at gregoryd@stjohns.edu

The 2009 National Policy Forum: New Frontiers in Labor and Employment
Policy: Ensuring Good Jobs, Fair Treatment, and High Performance in a
Turbulent Economy will be held June 11-12, 2009, Washington, D.C. at
the Cafritz Conference Center, George Washington University Campus,
Co-sponsored by BNA and the Department of Management, George Washington
University.

LERA National Policy Forums are designed to connect theory and practice
with policy issues in ways that have impact. Hosted by George
Washington University at the Cafritz Conference Center in Washington
D.C. the 2009 Forum theme signals what may be an end to over two
decades of gridlock on a broad range of labor and employment policy
issues and explores what may be new frontiers in labor and employment
policy.

This year's Policy Forum will have a particular focus on policy issues
around union organizing, pension and health care benefits, and other
issues for which legislative debates are anticipated and where public
policy can be informed by scholarly research and practitioner
perspectives. The Forum will also consider state and industry-level
challenges in rebuilding the American Dream and surface deeper
underlying assumptions about the workforce, unions, employers and other
stakeholders.

Through a series of seven workshops and four plenary sessions featuring
panels of legislators, labor and management practitioners, and leading
researchers, the LERA 2009 NPF will provide a unique opportunity to
participate in the public policy dialogue concerning today’s most
pressing problems.

Early-bird registration runs through May 15th. Discounted hotel room
rates have been arranged at the Washington Hilton and are available
through May 21, 2009.

There will be an interesting conference next month in Seattle for those interested in the ongoing debate on judicial selection. The University of Washington School of Law and the Judicial Selection Coalition are joining to present "Selecting Judges in Washington -- Looking Back to 2008 and Forward to 2009" on November 21 at W. H. Gates Hall at the law school. The conference begins at 1:00 and includes some interesting presenters. Here is a flyer with more information about this conference.

The Yale Journal of Law and Feminism is putting on a symposium on the PDA. Registration information and a list of speakers is available here. The Symposium celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the Pregnancy
Discrimination Act. The Journal will be commemorating this landmark occasion,
along with the twentieth anniversary of the Journal, with a symposium
featuring the women and men who have been involved in every critical
phase of the decades-long campaign for sex equality in the workplace.
The event will bring together distinguished advocates and scholars from
across the country to share their insights into the PDA and the future
of workplace equality. Judge Marsha Berzon will the Keynote speaker.

From Sep't 10,2008 to Sep't. 13, 2008, the ABA put on what appears to be a wonderful CLE conference in Denver. The papers that were submitted are available here. The material is extensive and may be helpful to researchers or students seeking to learn more about labor and employment law. As an example, the labor track of papers include the following:

On June 9-11th in Washington D.C. the FMCS will be holding its 14th Annual Conference. It will take place at the Hilton Washington in Washington DC on June 9-11 and is expect to draw over 1,000 business and union practitioners, attorneys, arbitrators, facilitators and mediators from the private and public sectors from across the United States and several foreign nations. This conference will feature approximately 60 workshops for labor relations professionals. Keynote Speakers include:-MSNBC political commentator Chris Matthews, host of Hardball with Chris Matthews and The Chris Matthews Show-Economist Stephen Rose, author of a landmark study on wages and income, Social Stratification in the United States -Dr. William Ury , co-author of the best-selling Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, and the author of The Power of a Positive No: How to Say No and Still Get to Yes -Panel discussion on collective bargaining with Harold P. Coxson, Jr., Ogletree Deakins, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Labor Relations Committee; Jon Hiatt, General Counsel, AFL-CIO; Kenneth C. Huhn, Vice President, Industrial Relations, Deere & Company; and John Wilhelm, President/Hospitality Industry of UNITE HERE.

NLRB Member Wilma Liebman is the featured speaker at the Graduate Center For Worker Education, 25 Broadway, 7th floor (lower Manhattan near Bowling Green Subway) on May 7, 2008 between 5:30pm and 8:00 pm. Other speakers include Rutgers Professor James Pope, Western New England Professor Freeman, Brooklyn College Professor Jayaraman, Attorney Dan Clifton and Professsor Ness.

This event is sponsored by WorkingUSA The Journal of Labor and Society. 2 CLE Credits are available and the cost is $80.00 which includes a reception. A formal announcement of this conference is available here.Download USLaborRelations.pdf

Bill Herbert, Deputy Chair and Counsel of PERB writes to inform us of the following:

On May 15 and 16, 2008, there will be a conference held in Albany, New York commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Taylor Law - the statute governing labor relations between unions and government in New York State. The conference will be held at the Desmond Hotel. It is being sponsored by the New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), and co-sponsored by the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining, Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), the Government Law Center at Albany Law School, and the Labor and Employment Law Section of the New York State Bar Association.

Jerome Lefkowitz, PERB’s Chairman, who participated in the original drafting of the law, will open the program with a commentary entitled: “The Taylor Law and Public Sector Collective Bargaining Through the Years; the History and Future Direction of PERB and the Law.” Several scholars will then present papers on various aspects of public sector labor relations, which will be responded to by leading representatives of both labor and management. Albany Law School Professor Vincent Bonventre, will make a presentation on the impact of New York Court of Appeals’ decisions on Taylor Law issues; MIT Professor Thomas A. Kochan, co-director of the Workplace Center and Institute for Work and Employment Research, will examine the impact of compulsory interest arbitration and other impasse procedures on the bargaining process, updating the original “Kochan Report” he co-authored over thirty years ago. Chicago labor attorney R. Theodore Clark, will examine alternative statutory systems used in other jurisdictions. New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse will be moderating an after dinner panel discussion with public sector officials and labor representatives. The program will conclude with a presentation by Cornell ILR Dean Harry C. Katz entitled “looking Ahead: Drawing On Lessons Learned, What Does the Future Hold for Public Sector Labor Relations in New York State.”

This looks like a wonderful program. I know most of the speakers. The speakers are a combination of professors, union lawyers and management lawyers. If your looking for a public sector conference in New York, this is "the" conference to attend.

Bill Hubert, Deputy Chair of PERB, writes to inform us of an up comming conference on the 40th Anniversary of the Taylor Law on May 15 and May 16 at the Desmond Hotel in Albany. It is sponsored by PERB, Cornell's ILR School, NYC Office of Collective Bargaining, The Government Law Center at Albany Law School and the NYS Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section.

For anyone interested in public sector labor relations or looking to break into this growing field, this is a must conference. I have also been to the Desmond many times. It's located near the airport and is a wonderful hotel which is reasonably priced. The complete conference is available here. Download taylor_law_40th_announcement1.pdf

On Oct. 14-16, 2007, Hofstra will be holding a conference entitled "Lawyering at the Edge: Unpopular Clients, Difficult Cases, Zealous Advocates" and has invited Lynne Stewart to attend. Stewart was convicted of helping a terrorist client, the blind Egyptian Sheik Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel Raman, pass messages to his supporters. She was sentenced to 28 months in prison but is free pending appeal. She has also been disbarred. What a role model!! A New York Law Journal article about this conference provides in part:

"She's a case study on what happens when a lawyer oversteps their bounds," Hofstra Interim Dean Nora V. Demleitner said of Ms. Stewart in an interview. "The whole point of the entire panel is to get the students [and attendees] to ask tough questions like, would she do it the same way again, what if anything she would have done differently."

Overall, Ms. Demleitner said the speakers lined up by Roy D. Simon, the conference director and director of the school's Institute for Legal Ethics, will give attendees insight into most pressing ethical challenges facing advocates, including what happens when a lawyer goes astray.

"It really focuses on lawyers who have represented clients that are generally unpopular with zealous advocacy," said Mr. Simon. "The reason the legal system works . . . is because [lawyers] lend their talents to people with whom they often disagree."

As a graduate of Hofstra Law School myself, I must say that I am disappointed that Hofstra would give Ms. Stewart a forum to speak. Stewart was not acting as lawyer on the edge when she passed a note to a terrorist. Students do not need to see to see or hear a convicted criminal speak to learn that what she was wrong. Indeed, you do not even have to go to law school to know that! Stewart's attendance does nothing to further the legal profession or legal scholarship. I hope Hofstra's new interim Dean reconsiders.

St. John's Law School is hosting an important bankruptcy conference on September 28, 2007. Three CLE credits are available and there is no registration fee. From the conference web site:

The nature and role of organized labor is undergoing a fundamental change. Much of that change is occurring in the bankruptcy context as the nation’s major “legacy” industries go through the restructuring process. The symposium brings together leading thinkers in the labor and bankruptcy fields to explore these changes, their meaning and their consequences.

Presented by the St. John’s Labor Relations and Employment Law Society and the St. John’s Institute for Bankruptcy Policy.

9:30 a.m.Welcome

9:40 a.m.Presentations

Hon. William T. BodahFrost Brown Todd LLC, Columbus, OH

Babette Ceccotti, Esq.Cohen, Weiss & Simon, LLP

Thomas Geoghegan, Esq.Depres, Schwartz & Geogheganand author of “Which Side Are You On? Trying To Be For Labor When It Is Flat On Its Back.”

Daniel KeatingVice Dean & Tyrell Williams Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law

Harvey R. Miller, Esq.Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP

11:15 a.m.Break

11:30 a.m.Panel Discussion

12:30 p.m.Luncheon Keynote Address

Micheline MaynardDetroit Bureau Chief for the New York Times and author of “The End of Detroit.”

More InformationFor more information please contact Yvette Gutierrez at (718) 990-1923 or at llm@stjohns.edu.

Conference Director Professor David Gregory could also be constacted for additional information. I hope you will join me at this important conference.

Yours truly will be the featured speaker on Assignment of Labor Arbitration at the September 11, 2007 meeting of the Nassau County Bar Association, Labor Law Committee between 12:30 and 2:00 pm. The Nassau County Bar Association is located at 15th and West Streets in Mineloa, Long Island.

If your interested in attending, please call the bar association at 516-747-4070.